


Zuko's Coming-out Playlist

by childspider



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: (Reference only- to music), Alternate Universe - Modern with Bending (Avatar), Bisexual Sokka (Avatar), Coming Out, Gay Zuko (Avatar), Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, Sokka (Avatar)-centric, Uber, Zuko (Avatar) Needs a Hug, Zuko (Avatar)-centric, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:21:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27719459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/childspider/pseuds/childspider
Summary: "He is just about to press shuffle on ‘yet to figure out they’re emo’ (soft pop-punk and a dash of classic rock) when he asks, “You all set, buddy?”Zuko scrunches up his features in annoyance, letting out an exasperated: “Yes. Can we go?” He clicks his seatbelt on and slips his phone out from his pocket, turning his body away from Sokka.Sokka’s face pulls back into his neck, jarred by the other man’s reaction. Oh, that’s how it is? He scrolls back up to find his “fun queer-time driving” playlist and presses play. Hope you like underground gay dance music, jerk."...Sokka only ever plays his own playlists for customers that get on his nerves, usually resulting in them complaining. This time, however, it causes an impromptu coming out.
Relationships: Hakoda/Bato (mention), Sokka & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (pre-relationship), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 32
Kudos: 538
Collections: zukka that i find





	Zuko's Coming-out Playlist

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by  
> [this](https://vm.tiktok.com/ZSgJ6vU7/) tiktok
> 
> World building info: The war still happened but it was before all of them were born. Everything happened mostly the same but with different people, the then Avatar sticking around the help them dismantle the monarchy. Ozai (and therefore Zuko) is descended from what would have been royalty but they now just have high standing positions in government. Iroh left the Fire Nation after the unexpected death of his son, finding it too difficult to stay there permanently but would still go back to visit Zuko and Azula. The Air Nation depleted drastically but since they were nomads there was still some in hiding, reconnecting after the end of the war- so Aang is one of a small few but not the only Airbender left (he's still the Avatar). 
> 
> There's a couple of songs I had in mind but there's only two ones specifically mentioned if you want to give them a listen. "Starry Night" by Peggy Gou and "I like boys" by Todrick Hall (which is dramatized for this piece)

“Can’t you go any faster?” Katara whined from the passenger seat, checking the time on her phone again. “I’m going to be late.”

“Absolutely not! I’m not risking points on my licence for you.” Sokka said but started to pick up speed anyway, only to get caged behind a barrier of slow-moving cars and buses two seconds later.

“SOKKA!”

“I can’t help it! Get out and walk if you don’t like it!” He huffed, lowering the gear as he was forced to reduce his speed yet again.

Katara groaned, looking ready to verbally assault the older gentleman perched behind the wheel of the vehicle in front. “Is this how you talk to all your customers?”

“You are not a customer! If you wanted to complain, you should have paid me.” 

He manages to jolt them forward a few inches but is forced into a complete stop as the lights ahead turns red. An extra noise of frustration escapes from Katara as another minute ticks by, highlighted by the next song starting on his playlist.

“I might actually be quicker walking.”

Sokka glances at Katara as she picks up his phone from the holder clamped on his dashboard. She skips through a handful of mismatch indie-pop, futuristic bass and some classic rock, stopping for a moment longer on an older song that their Dad plays all the time when they’re home, but decides to skip that one too. She settles on a song that Sokka had only added last night after Suki suggested he listen to the band; he likes the heavy pop-rock guitars mixed with the electric feel to their lyrics.

“Does no-one ever complain about this?” Katara asks, baffled, shoving the phone back in its holder.

The road slowly starts to move again as the light flashes green.

“I made different playlists for customers.” Sokka rolls his eyes, flicking the indicator up before curling round the corner. “I pick one based off the vibe they give off- works every time. I only play one of my own stuff if the customer’s an asshole, then they usually complain about it.”

Katara laughs and leans forward to look out the windshield. Now that they’ve passed the largest group of junction roads in the city, the traffic is moving a lot quicker. Katara checks her phone again and squints at the University’s main entrance coming up in the distance.

“3 minutes to get to the top floor.” She murmurs, starting to collect her things. She unplugs her phone cable from the storage box in the middle of the car and shoves it in her bag, along with her water bottle that had been rolling around at her feet. “I’ll text you when Suki and I are finished, but we shouldn’t be any later than half 4. Aang’s just going to meet us at the restaurant at 5.”

“Cool. Toph said she’s going to be late and we’re not allowed to start without her.” Sokka starts to pull up at the building.

Katara rolls her eyes. “At least she told someone this time. Did she say why?”

“Never does.” Sokka grins, pulling up the handbrake and turning off the engine. “That’ll be 16 gold pieces please.”

“Very funny.” She pushes his hand away from her, jumping out the car. She slams the door shut behind her and rushes up the university steps.

Sokka clambers his upper body out of the car window, catching her with a shout before she disappears. “Katara!”

“What?” She turns, puzzled. She pats the pockets on her thin, waterproof parka- checking if she’d forgotten something.

“I love you!” Sokka yells, visibly impressed with himself as he watches his sister’s features drop in frustration.

Laughs pour out of him while Katara goes to stomp away, only for her to turn back to send her own “I love you too” back, before hurrying into the school.

Sokka adjusts back into his seat and 3 notifications ding on his phone, letting him know that there’s new jobs nearby. A sigh ripples through his body as he checks the time, 12 o’candle. He could already feel that today was going to be a _long_ day. He picks the one with the longest journey time, attached to a smiley selfie of an older teen with candyfloss dyed hair, hoping it might result in a decent sized tip and pulls away from the path.

He picks up a ‘soft girl vibes’, 2 ‘spooky even in January’s, 2 ‘gym boy who tries too hard’s, and a ‘dangly-earring lesbian’ couple before he takes a break at around 3:30PM. Sokka grabs a quick snack and spends half hour ticking off his adult responsibilities for the day: homework and bills. He narrowly avoids dropping crumbs all over his joinery textbook as he crams in 20 odd minutes of studying and picks up his phone to drain the contents of his bank account paying bills. Bills were so weird: paying for food and water and housing was so dumb- he would literally die without them, but he had to _buy_ them? It made no sense. It wasn’t something he’d ever had to worry about in the South Pole, but now that he was in a Ba Sing Se, under a new government, he had to find ways to manage- even if it still made no sense.

It was just after 4 o’candle when Sokka sat contemplating whether or not to take on the faceless job notification that pinged up 20ft away when he was supposed to meet Suki and his sister in less than half an hour. He could make that, right? It’s only 15 minutes there and another 10 to the University.

 _Gotta pay for your basic human needs somehow._ He clicks accept and a map pops up with a small blank profile: the only information that had been filled out was the name- ‘Zuko’. Which Sokka is pretty sure was mandatory for setting up an account. 

He turned the keys and dropped the handbrake, letting the weight of the car roll him forward down the slight decline in the road instead of wasting fuel money for such a short distance. He pressed on the brake just outside a surprisingly busy tea shop and watched for any potential Zuko’s. His eyes dance over the handful of people nearby, when he catches a glimpse of a guy about Sokka’s own age with a scar burned into the left side of his face that hid behind his dark shaggy hair. He was squinting between his phone and Sokka’s car- trying to figure out if it’s the right one- growing considerably more frustrated at his inability to tell the longer he looks.

Sokka shakes his head, amused, and calls out the window. “Zuko?”

The man freezes, like he has been caught doing something he shouldn’t be. He nods and shoves his phone into his pocket. He makes his way into the back-seat diagonal from the driver.

Sokka jumps from the directions, and heads back to Spotify. He’s considering his options as he takes in the passenger’s appearance: dark, ripped jeans that contrast against his neat, red jumper and collared shirt tucked in underneath. Some new wave indie? Maybe go with some classic emo tunes?

He is just about to press shuffle on ‘yet to figure out they’re emo’ (soft pop-punk and a dash of classic rock) when he asks, “You all set, buddy?”

Zuko scrunches up his features in annoyance, letting out an exasperated: “Yes. Can we go?” He clicks his seatbelt on and slips his phone out from his pocket, turning his body away from Sokka.

Sokka’s face pulls back into his neck, jarred by the other man’s reaction. _Oh, that’s how it is?_ He scrolls back up to find his “fun queer-time driving” playlist and presses play. _Hope you like underground gay dance music, jerk._

He flips back to the pre-programmed map and starts up the car. Sokka shoots a glace back at Zuko in the mirror, hoping for some kind of reaction to the song but finds that Zuko only momentarily looked up from his screen before going back to his phone.

Sokka grumbled complaints under his breath and pulled away, listening to the automated voice telling him where to go that cut through the rhythmic, swaying sounds that still played underneath.

He didn’t mind when people didn’t talk to him during rides. Sokka gets that; some people have anxiety, others just don’t want to talk to him, and he understands, because he’s a total stranger and they don’t owe him any conversation. However, if you are going to be sitting in his car while he drives you somewhere, you best not be a dick about it.

So, he has decided that for the next 15 minutes he’s going to be as up-beat and polite as possible- like Aang level friendly, just to get under this guy’s skin. He is clearly not a fan of niceties so Sokka starts out simple:

“How’s your day been?” Sokka beams, quickly looking over his shoulder to see a startled Zuko.

“Fine.” The passenger throws his gravelly voice at Sokka.

Sokka watches the road as he continues. “Did you get up to much?”

“Just work.”

“Oh nice!” Sokka smiles widely round his words. “You work at that I picked you up? Um- what is it? Summer Dragon?”

Sokka listens to him sigh deeply. “It’s Jasmine Dragon. But yes.”

“Of course, sorry. What do you do?”

The words scrape by Zuko’s gritted teeth. “Make. Tea.” 

“That’s so cool! I love tea!” He absolutely does not. “Maybe I’ll come in some time. Your tea’s any good?”

There’s an antagonised, bated breath from the back that sounds like Zuko’s going to say something but changes his mind. Zuko’s eye’s narrow, and he twitches- jaw clenched. He turns his gaze away to look out the window and makes a noise of affirmation.

_Oooh that sounded like it hurt_ , Sokka held back a snort. By the way that Zuko was seething right now it was clear that Sokka was going to get a one-star review, but as he watched Zuko’s hot breath steam against the window, he couldn’t bring himself to care.

The road winds left, and Sokka guides the steering wheel through his loose grip as he follows the road. It’s then he realises he has made a mistake. “Fuck.” Sokka’s head rolls back. He should have kept straight but he was too busy trying to piss off Zuko to focus on the directions- out of habit he turned back towards the university and into the always busy city centre.

“Wrong route. Rerouting.” The music muffled around the robotic voice.

“I know!” He shouted back at the uncaring machine. Sokka was still able to drive forward at patchy, sporadic intervals but they weren’t getting out of the city centre any time soon. “There’s some traffic, so this is going to take a bit longer.”

“How much longer?” Zuko sat forward in his chair, properly paying attention for the first time this journey. “I need to be there before 5.”

“Just by a couple of minutes, there’s still plenty of time.”

The bus in front quickly shuddered to a stop with an unhealthy groan, Sokka slammed his foot down on break.

“I take it back.”

“Great.” Zuko deflates into the headrest but doesn’t say anything else like Sokka had expected him to. Even the nice customers tend to get mean when something happens to mess with their plans, and Sokka wouldn’t exactly describe Zuko as ‘nice’.

There’s the sound of pissed off car horns and engines revving with nowhere to go.

“Satobot?” Sokka starts. “Text Katara: Going to be late. Doing a job. Caught in traffic.”

“Going for bait. Got a dog. Caught in traffic.” The phone repeats. “Is that correct?”

Sokka thinks he hears a laugh from Zuko but he couldn’t be sure over his own. “Yes. Send.” _She’ll get the idea_.

He taps his fingers against the steering wheel, contemplating his next set of questions to Zuko as he waits for the traffic to move. A space themed indie beat flips on, and Sokka smiles as he thinks about the last ‘fun queer-time drive’ that he and Suki had- they always go and grab snacks from the corner shop and take turns for who’s car they use to drive around for a couple hours. He remembers fondly that Suki had spent 5 minutes looking for a song that had “the right energy” before settling on this one to tell him about the tragic love story of the girl she’d met at a club the night prior, only for the girl to refuse to give Suki her number because “if the spirits wanted them to meet again, they would.”

“Message from Katara wave emoticon wave emoticon wave emoticon. Would you like to hear it?” His phone says.

“Yes.”

“Suki brought her car so we’ll just meet you there. We’re ordering without you. Good luck with the dog.” Sokka laughs and the phone continues. “Would you like to reply?”

“No.”

When the music returns, he hums along and leans his head against the side window. He catches a glimpse of Zuko watching him in the mirror. The other man’s cheeks dust pink as he darts his gaze away from Sokka’s, and Sokka remembers the game he had been playing.

“Is this place you’re going nice?” Sokka’s question is muffled slightly by the hand he has pressed into his cheek.

“No.” Zuko sits up straight. “… Or- yes.”

“Which is it?” Sokka laughs, turning his head slightly.

Zuko’s quiet for a second. “It’s- I’m going to a nice restaurant.”

“Me too! Well maybe not a _nice_ restaurant but I am going for food.” The road starts to move and Sokka jolts to get back into position, but only ends up going forwards a few feet before stopping again. “Are you meeting anybody?”

“My sister. And my Father.”

Sokka doesn’t look at his face, but his taut words make it easy to realise that Zuko isn’t going to enjoy this meal. His voice was tight and cold and full of a past that Sokka’s not sure if he’s allowed to question.

“Not looking forward to it?” Sokka asses gently.

“No.”

He looks round to see Zuko curl in on himself and pull his phone out again. Sokka is suddenly flooded with guilt for actively trying to get on Zuko’s nerves, the guy was clearly upset about seeing his family, and even if Sokka still doesn’t condone him being a dick he can at least now understand why. Another bouncy record kicks off.

“Is there anything else you’d rather listen to? I can put on whatever you want.” Sokka offers, trying to coax Zuko out of his moody demeaner.

“No- I like it.” Zuko puts his phone down. And the road starts to move, Sokka managing to pick up momentum and travel half a dozen car lengths before having to drop his speed almost completely. He moves at a slow, juddering pace but they’re still moving forward. “I’ve never heard anything like this before.” Zuko continues.

“It’s good, right! I tried to convince my sister to listen to it, but she thinks music is supposed to have more lyrics.” Sokka checks the artist. “This is Peggy Gou if you want to y’know listen to her again.”

Sokka smiles as Zuko taps the name into his phone and drops it on the seat next to him.

“You’re meeting friends?” Zuko asks, his raspy voice felt suddenly brighter as he spoke, Sokka finds that he can’t help but smile at the fresh tone.

Just as they’re coming to the turning he needs to leave this stupid traffic jam, the car is forced to halt again. A communal groan is felt throughout the sea of vehicles, but at least Zuko doesn’t seem as annoyed anymore.

“Yeah.” Sokka replies. “We go for food every Friday after their classes finish.”

“That’s nice. That you get to see them so often.”

“Yeah, we’re all pretty busy the rest of the week so we had to schedule in bonding time.”

Zuko laughs a little, just like how his friends had done when he had suggested it, but it’s a good idea! Their routines all clash, so they can complain all they want but if it wasn’t for their Friday night dinners then they probably would have drifted apart a year ago.

“Finally!” Sokka shouts as the bus moves out of the way just enough for him to slip past into a quiet road to the left. He checks the time. “I should have you there with about 10 minutes to spare.”

Zuko’s smile slips from his face, he nods and sinks into himself, eyes following the people and places outside the window. Sokka regrets reminding him of the unpleasant meal he is about to endure.

The next song ticks on and Sokka instantly recognises it. It was the first explicitly queer songs Suki had shown him, and when he says it’s ‘explicitly queer’ he means it. He goes to skip it so as to not make Zuko uncomfortable when he’s clearly already upset but stops himself, contemplating whether or not he would have the same reaction if the artist was singing about beautiful women instead of men. His eyes leap between the road, his phone and Zuko. Is he too consumed with his family stuff to even notice? _Should I just let it play?_ Would he be an asshole about it? How much longer do they have to be in the car together? What if he gets violent? Sokka’s not one to back down from a fight but-

“Coming out the closet! Mama- I. Like. Boys!” Singing over the radio cuts through Sokka’s spiralling thoughts. Sokka risks a look back at Zuko in the mirror ahead of him.

His eyes are wide, lips having fallen apart. Zuko goes to speak but visibly struggles to find the words. Sokka looks away and tightens his grip around the steering wheel as the song ticks on, a moan coming through the speakers over another round of “I like boys!” is what pushes Zuko into speech.

“You listen to this?”

Sokka feels a wash of cold settle over him but puts on a strong front, eye’s darting to Zuko’s in the mirror. “Yes.” He lowers his voice, keeping his gaze tightly on the other man. “You got a problem?”

“Uh- I-” Zuko starts but just shakes his head instead and returns to looking out the window- but it’s now clear that he’s not focused on the whizzing buildings that they’re passing.

 _Thank the spirits_. Sokka relaxed a bit, but still sat with a tough exterior. He’s glad Zuko isn’t about to be outwardly homophobic, Sokka really didn’t want to have to deal with getting hate-crimed, especially not while he’s driving and can’t defend himself.

Although maybe he spoke too soon, the tempo picks up as it gets progressively more explicit. Sokka keeps his focus centred on driving, briefly checking the map to find that they’re only 5 minutes from the destination.

Sokka reckons it was either the talk of “almost naked” men or the “I like when they grind real slow” that shoves Zuko over the edge.

“Your parents let you listen to this?” Zuko’s voice is thick, and Sokka is willing to bet that is not a good sign for him.

He swallows down the icy fear that had doused him not 2 minutes prior and decides to restart his earlier game of ‘make Zuko as uncomfortable as possible’. _I can handle this guy for 5 minutes._

“I’m 20 years old. My parents don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t listen to.” Sokka laughed loudly- he couldn’t imagine them ever scolding him for something so stupid, especially not for him listening to something gay. “And it would be pretty hypocritical. Since my Dad is literally married to a dude.”

A tense quiet engulfs the car, any dialogue Zuko had planned to share now stunted, as the ‘I like boys’ line loops, accented by passionate groans. Sokka doesn’t have to check on Zuko to know he won his game.

A quiet whimper does however force him to look back. Sokka’s brain shudders and he fully turns to openly stare at the man crumpled in his back seat, muffling his sobs behind his sleeves.

A car noise somewhere on the road shocks Sokka back to the task at hand. Quickly, he pulls into the nearest curb and turns off the engine. Sokka spins to face Zuko, who now has his chest heaved over towards his knees to try and hide his reaction as his violent tears cause his breathing to shake.

Sokka’s mouth started to feel dry from the extensive exposure to open air as his mind raced for answers. He knew homophobic people were weird, but this was a whole other level of strange, surely this guy wasn’t on the verge of a panic attack after finding out that two men could get married? It had to be something else.

“…Are you… okay?” Sokka asks, angling his head to get a better view of Zuko and sees that his hands are still clamped over his mouth. Sokka waits but when he doesn’t get a reply, he scrambles to find the tissues he keeps in his car, reaching down into the passenger side glove compartment. There aren’t many left after his last car-cry session with Suki but there’s a wrinkled, half empty packet that would have to do. “Here.”

Zuko takes a moment before sitting up, his shoulders juddering as he tries to calm his tears. He takes the tissues and goes to say what Sokka thinks is ‘thank you’ but was interrupted by another abrupt cry.

Fingers fumble with the botched packet, eventually managing to pull out three musty tissues at once. Zuko doesn’t bother separating them until they’re already attached to his face, poorly mopping up tears.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be so- but the song- and my- the dinner and,” Zuko allows the words to flop out of him, interrupted by sniffs and vocal cracks. Sokka’s struggling to wrap his mind around what Zuko’s trying to say as the other man’s thoughts continue to tumble half way out of his mouth, the cries trembling his speech and the tissue-wrapped knuckles pressed into his features only assisting in Sokka’s difficulties.

“-there’s just so much- and Uncle always said- but I couldn’t. Not if. Not when. I- I- I’m gay.” Zuko finishes, eyes clenched shut.

Sokka can’t say he expected that. He takes in more air than expected as his brain rapidly catches on. “O-okay. That’s okay! It’s fine!”

“I’ve never told anyone that before.” Zuko’s eyes burst open, mouth hanging low. “You can’t tell anyone- please! Don’t-”

“Hey, don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone! I don’t even know anything about you, who could I tell?”

“You have to promise!” Zuko’s pleading, eyes suctioned on Sokka.

“I promise! I promise! Okay?” Sokka thrusts his hands up defensively.

Zuko crashes back into the chair- clearly still feeling weepy but satisfied enough that Sokka won’t divulge his secret. He roughly rubs the tissue into his scared eye, and keeps it pressured there as he leans his elbow against the window.

“Do you… want to talk about it?”

Zuko looks apprehensive. He stays rested against the window but coughs to clear the sob from his throat. “I’m fine.”

Sokka seriously doubts that but doesn’t think it would do Zuko any good to be questioned on it. “Okay. But if you change your mind, I promise I won’t tell anyone that either.”

There’s a quiet only filled with the soft music coming from the speakers and the hushed vocal pops of Zuko trying to fix his breathing.

“I’ve known since I was 13 but I knew that if my Father ever found out-” A look of terror slices through Zuko’s story and he grabs at his phone from the seat next to him “I should be there by now- I have to go-.”

“I’ll take you there right now if that’s what you want.” Sokka’s lips smack together as he tries to come up with the right words. “But do you really think you’re in the best… condition to be having dinner with your presumably super strict, opinionated dad?”

Sokka watches Zuko’s head drops and his hands find his hair. The words “I can’t go in like this” are hidden in his forearms.

“What if, we just sit here for a while? The restaurants right around the corner. You can wait until you feel better and go in a little late? Blame me if you want- say that I was really obnoxious and I deliberately took the wrong route just to try and get more money out of you.”

Zuko’s jaw moves slightly back and forth as if he’s chewing at the inside of his gums. “Okay.”

Sokka turns back to his phone and clicks cancel underneath Zuko’s profile. It doesn’t feel right taking this guy’s money anymore. The song that prompted Zuko’s panic induced outing had ended in the midst of the chaos- a new, lighter one floating out of the speakers. Sokka twists the volume dial down, but leaves it on, fearing the silence of it being gone would put too much pressure on Zuko to talk.

“My Father made it clear that… people like me were unacceptable. I tried to change it but nothing ever worked, so I just ignored it. I’ve never even said it out loud before.”

That doesn’t surprise Sokka, the tear-soaked confession didn’t seem like it came from someone who’d worn in the phrase ‘I’m gay.’

“I never told anyone, I never acted on anything, but he still managed to find out. All because of a stupid rumour that escalated until he had to get called into the school. I denied it but it didn’t matter, other people thought I was and that was enough for him to-” a sob gets tangled in his words. “He got so mad and he- he taught me a permanent lesson on my face.”

Sokka’s chest dips as his breath catches on the words he tries to find. He watches Zuko put a sleeve covered hand up to wipe tears off his scar before dropping it into his lap, he swallows.

“I’ve lived with my Uncle ever since. And tonight will be the first time I’ve seen him in 5 years.”

“La’s fins, Zuko. That’s- … I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have had to go through that.” Sokka wants to reach out to comfort him but doesn’t know how he’ll react.

Zuko’s phone buzzes from where it sits next to him, he hesitantly presses it open and grimaces at the screen.

“I’ve spent the last 5 years desperately trying to do everything right so that he would take me back but the song and listening to you and your Fathers be so open… I just… something snapped. I had convinced myself that I only had to keep it up until I could prove that I was worthy of his respect but I can _never_ be myself if he accepts me back, nothing will ever be good enough.”

Zuko’s phone makes a continuous low buzzing, he stares at it ringing but makes no effort to take the call.

“Is that him?” Sokka asks.

“My sister, Azula. I don’t have his number and he didn’t want mine.”

It rings out. A moment passes and it starts humming against the fabric of the car seat again.

“What’re you going to do?” Sokka doesn’t think Zuko knows the answer, it looks like he’s just milking whatever time he can get before having to make a decision.

Zuko shrugs, looking queasy. “I don’t want to go in.”

“You don’t have to.” Sokka offers.

“I have to. He’s going to be so mad already, he hates being in the Earth Kingdom, he’s only here for me, but I’m already late and he won’t care even if I tell him it’s not my fault. I need to be perfect.”

“That’s a pretty unfair standard to hold yourself to.”

That only seem to work in making Zuko agitated on top of his already tearful exterior. Sokka tries again.

“I just mean, nobody’s perfect! Y’know? And you shouldn’t have to be to earn your Dad’s love, it should just be a given.”

“I know.” Zuko brushes the tissue under his eye and another short buzz grabs both their attention. Zuko studies the phone for a moment, and Sokka catches a glimpse of the screen: 2 missed calls from ‘Azula’ and a text from ‘Uncle’. They sit, and Sokka sees Zuko’s breath get heavier as time trickles forwards. Zuko’s phone lights up the dark interior of Sokka’s car once again and he wonders what the best thing to say would be- he’s good at comforting people but the volatile state that Zuko is seized in makes it difficult to judge what to do.

“In the Southern Water Tribe, there isn’t really any homophobia, so I never had to worry about it until I started traveling.” Sokka finds Zuko’s eyes, the other man finally breaking away from his phone. “I was 18 the first time someone ever said anything, and it was… terrifying. It didn’t take me long after that to realise that there was always going to be people who will hate me for something I have no control over. What took me a bit longer to come to terms with was that sometimes there’s nothing I can do to change their mind.” He moulds his voice precisely, folding in both soft and serious tones. “I might not know exactly what it is you’re going through but, in my experience, if someone is willing to treat you like that then you’re better off without them.”

A weak sob creases Zuko’s chest. He brings his hands up to his face and kneads his eyes rigorously. He takes a long, shaky breath, letting him shoulders fall as he releases, his anger going with it.

“I’m not going.” Zuko remarks but it sounds like a test, voice matted with the remnants of tears. “I’m not going.” He says again, the words feeling more at home this time around. “But I don’t want to have to go home and explain to Uncle why I didn’t go. He’s been telling me for weeks that I shouldn’t, and I’ve been so cruel to him because of it. If I go back now, he’ll have questions and want to have a deep, meaningful conversation that I only half understand.” He sounds more like he was talking to himself than to Sokka.

Sokka ponders for a moment. “You could come have dinner with my friends?”

“What?” Zuko’s head jolts up.

“Yeah, come have dinner with us! Basically all of us are queer so we get it, man, this stuff gets to you. We can let you talk about how shitty your Dad is or we can just hang out and keep your mind off it.”

Sokka comes to the conclusion that it might have been too much of an offer when Zuko just stares at him, jaw slack. “I mean, you don’t have to. But the offer’s there. Or I could drive you somewhere, like a friend’s house or something. Or we could just stay-”

“Why are you helping me?”

Sokka’s lips pop open, unsure what to say. He really hadn’t expected to be questioned on this. “Um… to be nice? … I don’t know, if I were in your position, I’d want someone to do this for me.”

Zuko looks to be working out something in his head. “Are you sure your friends wouldn’t mind? Shouldn’t you ask them first?”

“It’s fine! They won’t care but let me just text them let them know.” Sokka’s teeth poke out as he smiles wide. He grabs his phone and open their group chat.

**“ gays & katara**

**Sokka: im bringing a friend to dinner and noones allowed to be weird about it**

**Suki: A friiiieeeend? ; )**

**Sokka: perfect example**

**none of that**

**Toph: Just hurry up. I’m already here and Aang’s trying to guilt me into not ordering.**

**Aang: We’re waiting <3”**

Sokka chuckles softly before turning back to a patient Zuko. “They’re cool with it.”

Zuko sucks in a shaky breath through his teeth and nods, visibly stressed and scrunching a new, only partially used tissues between his fingers.

Sokka jerks his head towards the passenger seat beside him, and his cheeks squish under his smile. “Wanna come sit up front?”

The other man pauses. He takes off his seatbelt and heads out, clutching the packet of remaining tissues, Zuko slowly shuts the back door and Sokka watches and he takes a moment to renovate his clothing- dusting off some paper hanky remnants from his jumper- before he opens the passenger side door.

There’s a quick rush of cold as Zuko pulls the door shut behind him and the two sit for a moment. Sokka’s able to properly take in Zuko’s dishevelled appearance- he realises that even if Zuko does want to vent about his problems with 5 complete strangers, he assumes that he won’t want to go into a restaurant (fancy or not) with a hot, blotchy, tear stained face. Sokka leans down to open the glovebox at Zuko’s knees but his impromptu presence in the other man’s space causes him to jump. “Sorry.” Sokka’s mouth pulls sympathetically and he quickly grabs what he was looking for, handing a bottle of water over the Zuko. “Here.”

“Thanks.”

Zuko unscrews the cap and tentatively presses it to his lips, exhaling before testing its contents.

Sokka has to force his attention away from Zuko, wanting to give him a faux idea of privacy. He recentres himself in the driver’s seat and does all the usual checks before turning the keys and finding the biting point to start moving away from his hurried parking space. A softer sapphic song starts and Sokka thinks that’s probably more Zuko’s speed- at least right now. It’s slow and gentle but the voice and lyrics are smoky and very obviously queer. He turns up the volume slightly as they come to zebra-bat crossing and checks in on Zuko.

The man has downed about half the bottle of water and is now staring at its contents as he vaguely spins it in his grasp. He looks to have calmed down, but his face is still speckled with red and a dried in tear coating.

“If you put some of that water on a tissue and dab it on your face, it might make you feel more comfortable. At least until we get there, and you can use the sinks in the bathroom.”

Zuko starts pouring the water and Sokka pulls down the passenger mirror for him to use. He leans closer into the mirror as he pats the wet tissue under his eyes.

“When we get to the restaurant you can get properly cleaned up.”

Zuko gives up on straightening his appearance with an aggressive sweep to get rid of the mirror- and had someone done that under any other circumstances Sokka would have berated them for treating his car so harshly.

Sokka’s eyes glance over Zuko after he checks the wingmirror on the passenger’s side. He knows that they’re not too far from the restaurant and wants to clear up a few things.

“So… when we go in, what do you want me to tell them? I promised to keep everything you said to myself and I’m still happy to do that, but I wanted to check what you want to do.” 

“Oh um… I don’t know.” Zuko’s grip tightens around the bottle and then releases.

“I don’t need to bring up any of what happened- I can make something up to tell them, like we met in class or a Starbucks or something. it’s not a big deal. We just need to be on the same page.”

“I guess I should have thought about that.” Zuko averts his gaze even though Sokka isn’t really looking at him. “I never thought I’d- I suppose- well… I don’t know how comfortable I feel being totally out yet. But they don’t know me… so you could tell them what happened.”

“Great! And there’s still no pressure to talk about it. It’s like a trial run. You can just… socialize while also being gay.”

Zuko coughs out a laugh and keeps a smile on his face. Sokka feels the energy brighten in the car, his chest feeling warm at the newfound comfort relaxing over them.

“Could we- Could we listen to the song from before?”

“The Peggy Gou one?”

“No.” Zuko shakes his head, looking a little embarrassed to be asking. “The other one.”

Sokka agrees enthusiastically, and the second they’re stopped at the next traffic light he quickly presses it on. The rest of the drive is quiet and peaceful, helping to create a more positive memory associated with the seductive sounds of ‘I like boys’.

They park across the road from “the Elemental Café” and head inside. It’s a fusion restaurant that has surprisingly tasty bastardised versions of dishes from all over the 4 nations, it’s strangely popular despite its reputation for being one of the only places in the city where you can get poorly constructed renditions of your favourite home cooked meals that will make you even more homesick.

At the back of the restaurant sat a loud group of late teens and early 20-somethings, that he pulls Zuko towards. Aang is pouting at Toph as she obnoxiously munches on a side dish, Aang clearly not having been able to deter the girl from ordering.

“Hey, look who finally showed up!” Suki calls, shoving Toph’s spread feet from both free chairs.

“Everybody, this is Zuko. Zuko, these are my friends. Suki, Aang, my sister: Katara, and Toph.” Sokka points at them individually round the table but the dazed look on Zuko’s face suggests that he’s probably going to have to repeat their names throughout the night. He elbows Zuko’s arm lightly, trying to encourage him to speak.

“I’m going to the bathroom.” Zuko says, hurtling away towards the crumbling toilet sign.

As he disappears, Sokka turns back to see he’s surrounded by silent questions and he pounces into an explanation.

“So. He was my last customer and I thought he was kind of an asshole so I played my own playlists to piss him off, and then that Todrick Hall song came on and I _thought_ he was a homophobic dick but then he started _crying_ and it turns out _he’s_ gay but has never told anybody ‘cause his Dad is super shitty, like really bad guy, and he was _supposed_ to be seeing him tonight but he decided to not go- _really good decision on his part, that did not sound like a fun dinner_ \- but he was sad and didn’t want to go home so I invited him here.”

Sokka fills his chest and exhales into a deep sigh as he finishes.

“Spirits above.” Someone says but Sokka’s not sure who, regardless, he thinks that it is a statement that they can all agree with.

“That’s… a lot.” Katara blinks. “Why would you tell us? This feels like such an invasion of his privacy.”

“I got his permission first! I’m not an idiot.”

“Debatable.”

Sokka finally takes his seat in a huff. There’s an uncomfortable silence, no-one really looks to know what to do with the stack of unloaded information.

“So… does he want to talk about it?” Toph asks, her interest in the food discarded.

Sokka quickly checks over at the bathroom door before answering. “Honestly, I don’t know. He didn’t give me a clear answer. I’m not sure if he even knows if he wants to talk about it. Don’t like… avoid the topic but I think it’s probably safest to let him bring it up himself. He was really freaked out by someone knowing he was gay but he seemed okay with me asking questions once he-”

“Stop talking!” Katara hissed, and Sokka turned to see what she was looking at.

Zuko was headed back to the table looking much more comfortable than when he first walked in. His hair had been fluffed but was still damp at the ends from having splashed water on his face, and his shirt has been untucked from underneath his jumper, now hanging loosely beneath the red thread. Zuko awkwardly takes the seat next to Sokka and tucks it in with 2 loud scrapes.

“Hi.” Sokka says warmly, receiving a quick nod in return before Zuko fixes his gaze on one of the menus scattered round the table.

They all follow suit, flipping through the brightly coloured pages, Katara quietly reading off some items to Toph, but it was clear she wasn’t listening- Sokka could see her adjusting her feet under the table out the corner of his eye, facing them towards Zuko. Sokka pretended to look through it despite ordering the same thing every time they come. Someone makes a deliberate cough, and Sokka looks up to see Suki, Aang and Katara making direct eye contact with him. Katara’s head jerks in the direction of Zuko and she mouths “SAY SOMETHING.”

Muted stutters escape Sokka’s mouth, he looks about the room, trying to come up with something. Suddenly he hears something next to him and he looks up to see Suki’s laminate menu wobbling as she peruses the pages. OH.

Sokka leans in close, trying to keep their conversation quiet in case Zuko is apprehensive about talking. “See anything you like?” Sokka asks, nudging Zuko with his finger.

The alarmed look that’s spread thickly over Zuko’s features prompts him to rephrase.

“ON THE MENU. Is there anything you like. On the menu.”

Zuko stays frozen for a moment before nodding. “The uh… Komodo chicken sounds nice. The seasonings are hard for my Uncle to come by here, so I haven’t really had any actual Fire Nation dishes since I left home.”

Sokka doesn’t have the heart to tell him that it’s definitely not going to taste like ‘actual Fire Nation’ food.

“Oh! You’re from the Fire Nation?” Aang leaps into the conversation, dropping his menu.

“Well I grew up there, but I’ve lived in Ba Sing Se since I was 16.”

“What’s it like?” Suki follows up.

“Uh… hot.”

Zuko shifts uncomfortably in his chair, and Sokka’s not sure if he’s just awkward or he doesn’t want to talk about his time in the Fire Nation but it’s clear that he’s not the only one who senses Zuko’s discomfort, so the topic is dropped. The Waiter comes over shortly after to take their orders- Toph insisting on ordering another serving of chilli’d mushrooms on top of her already large dish and the pre-meal “snacks” she had a grand serving of while waiting for Sokka and associate to arrive.

There’s a familiar buzz on the table. Zuko’s phone lights up, Sokka doesn’t mean to read it but he catches a glimpse of the name ‘Azula’ at the top of his screen and nothing else before Zuko shields the message as he presses the power button. “I text her back and told her I wasn’t coming.” His voices holds a power that Sokka hasn’t ever heard in their short encounter thus far.

“She’ll tell your Dad?”

He nods and hums in affirmation. “He’ll be furious.”

Sokka supports a kind hand on the back of Zuko’s shoulder, he goes to fetch something comforting to say but Zuko sends him a dorky half grin, shockingly okay with prospect of an angry Father, before turning his attention to the audience of friends encompassing them.

“So, tell me what you guys do- for work and stuff.”

Sokka’s surprised by how quickly his friends take a liking to Zuko. Especially since pretty much all of the normal agreed upon topic starters for meeting a new person are now off limits: How do you and Sokka know each other? _Cried in his car_. Been up to much today? C _ried in a stranger’s car_. Even a simple question about where he grew up had caused Zuko to squirm, but they managed to find a flow that worked: only talk about themselves. It sounded selfish but honestly, Zuko looked happy to just be involved.

The waiter comes back with their waters and Toph starts ranting about her students, throwing her hands all over the place- gesturing wildly- at 2 separate point clipping Katara with the back of her hand and from grin on her face it was clear that the second time wasn’t accidental. Zuko laughs lightly as the conversation continues. He smiles a lot, it looks rusty at first but the more he engages, the more natural it gets. Sokka thinks he might be staring a little too long but he’s grown fond of the sunny smile spread across Zuko’s face and doesn’t want to go without it. _It’s just reassuring to know that Zuko’s feeling better_.

Aang drops his own opinion on the pupils abilities, since he is one of her students, he skirts around the edge of claiming that Toph is far too harsh- something that she takes as a compliment. Sokka sees the second Zuko realises who Aang is, he stares at Aang’s airbending tattoos while the boy continues his friendly fight over earthbending with Toph, eyes narrowing as he investigates his notion.

“I-is he…” Zuko whispers the unfinished thought to Sokka.

“Yup.” Sokka sighs back. “But he doesn’t like to make a big deal out of it.”

Zuko nods slowly and deeply but doesn’t say anything else. Sokka hadn’t really thought about it but he can only imagine it must be pretty jarring to find out part-way through a meal that you’re eating with the Avatar. But it did serve as a big distraction from remembering the other meal he’s missing.

Every so often Zuko’s phone will go off and he’ll just push the power button to ignore the communication but always goes a little quiet afterwards. But never for long- always being pulled back into conversation, usually by Sokka. They don’t ask about the phone calls or texts, it seems to work in encouraging Zuko to keep talking without needing as much of a push. Eventually he even starts bringing up things about himself: the tea shop he helps run, being a firebender, the turtle-duck is Uncle bought him for his 19th birthday, all small things but they all still felt personal to Sokka. 

Around about the 5th time it gone off Aang suggests that Zuko turn of his phone to get away from it. But Zuko declines.

“I still want to know what they have to say.”

Sokka doesn’t think that’s the healthiest response to the situation but since he had only decided to cut his Dad out less than 2 hours ago he figures that Zuko’s allowed to cling to this. Sokka intermittently checks up on Zuko, watching him to make sure he’s okay but tries not to let his check-ups last too long for fear of making Zuko feel like he’s babying him. He often briefly meets the other man’s gaze as he does before Zuko’s dart away. It’s just after the 4th time they make eye-contact that Zuko lets his watch linger, only to be interrupted by the waiter bringing over their meals.

As they start eating there’s the occasional comment passed around the table, but it mostly remains quiet, it’s a pleasant calm while they eat. Sokka no longer feels the same uncertainty around Zuko, he’s pretty sure he has a good idea of how Zuko ticks, a big part in thanks to the unloading at the beginning of the night. _Trauma- brings people closer_.

Zuko grimaces as he chews on the Komodo chicken he’d ordered. He reaches into the centre of the table and raids through the seasonings and sauces until he finds something he likes and pours it over the plate. “This doesn’t taste right.”

“It never does.” Suki chuckles, grabbing her own selection of seasonings and sprinkling them on top of her meal.

Zuko takes another bite of his revamped dish and still seems discontented but goes in for more.

“Do you want to try some?” Sokka offers, holding out a spoonful of his knock-off sea prune stew- which was really more like a broth. Sokka wouldn’t normally share food but Zuko’s had a bad day and Sokka’s continuing his mission to make it better, hoping that either the taste or just the feeling of inclusion will do just that.

Zuko looks apprehensive, eyes flicking between Sokka and the spoon and Sokka playfully wiggles the spoon when Zuko nods. But instead of taking the spoon from him like Sokka had expected, Zuko leans in closer, placing a tentative hand on the back of Sokka’s chair to steady himself and presses his lips to the ceramic. Sokka’s brain short-circuits as Zuko swallows and sits up straight but doesn’t move out of Sokka’s space. He watches carefully as Zuko brings a finger up to his slightly parted lips and gently wipes off the remnants of the soup, tongue darting out to catch any residue. Sokka feels a warm filling his body, starting at the centre of his chest.

“It’s good. Saltier than I expected. I’ve never had Water Tribe food before.”

“You still haven’t.” Katara laughs, lifting her gaze from her own bowl. “They don’t use actual sea prunes, but the seasonings are kind of similar.”

Katara’s answer lets Sokka distract himself from his complete inability to form a sentence. He goes back to his bowl but finds himself distracted by the body now so close in his company, he slowly sips at the soupy stew and it foams against the new tense feeling in his stomach, that he’s yet to figure out.

“Ow! WHY?” Sokka’s voice cracks as he whips his head to the obvious cooperate for kicking, hard, under the table.

Toph’s head springs back onto her shoulder blades as she lets out a beastly cackle. “Just for fun.” She sings.

He doesn’t trust the smirk that swims across her face. Zuko questions what is was for and seems to accept “She’s just like that” surprisingly easily.

They finish off their meals, with Sokka’s eyes dancing over Zuko as he offers him another spoonful before polishing off his bowl. The waiter from earlier comes back for their all empty plates and asks if he could get them anything else. Sokka, Suki and Toph order fruity iced drinks while Katara and Aang decide to split some cherry tea.

“Could I have a pot of Jasmine Tea?” Zuko asks, holding his menu up for the waiter to finish writing their order.

He pricks the notepad with his pen before taking Zuko’s menu, brushing his hand along the length of Zuko’s as he does. “Course you can, sweet-cakes.”

They all watch Zuko tense up and drop his jaw as he registers what has just happened, the slim waiter walks down the aisle towards the kitchen, slowly slipping the notepad into the back pocket of his jeans, and just before he disappears he glances back at a still frozen Zuko and smirks.

Sokka can feel the heat radiating from Zuko as he sits stock-still closely next to him, and Sokka’s own temperature rising to match it. If Sokka wasn’t privy to Zuko’s current circumstances, he would joked about Zuko’s complete inability to function. Everyone’s quiet. There’s a sudden rush in Sokka’s system to speak.

“That’s just Nav.” Sokka waves off. “He flirts with everybody- thinks it’ll get him a bigger tip.” Which is true but Sokka’s not sure if him saying this is as comforting to Zuko as he’d hoped.

Zuko looks distantly down at the table. “No guy has ever flirted with me before. For money or otherwise.”

“I’m sure that’s not true!” Suki says laying an outreached hand on the table.

“Yeah! You’ve probably just never noticed!” Aang jumps in.

Zuko shakes his head, clearly not believing them.

“Well… have you ever tried flirting with a guy?” Katara asks.

Zuko lets out a noise that almost sounds like a laugh but is far too cold and toneless to be considered one. “I can’t- or I couldn’t. My Father could never find out, so I’ve never let myself be… openly attracted to men. Until today.”

“You could flirt with Nav.” Toph casually suggests.

“What?” Sokka and Zuko both ask. Zuko continues. “I can’t-”

“Why not? He’s already flirting with you and your douche-bag of a Dad isn’t here so,” she punches Zuko in the arm, far too hard for a new friend who’s unfamiliar with her particular brand of affection, “get your flirt on!”

Zuko scrunches his nose up at her like she’s crazy, struggling to come up with something to say.

“It’s not a bad idea…” Suki shrugs.

Zuko, clearly looking for another opinion, turns to Sokka, who thinks it’s a bad idea for a reason he cannot place. He takes a deep breath to reply when Zuko’s long-forgotten phone buzzes against the table and this time their closeness means that Sokka can read it.

**“ Azula:**

**That was your last chance. You made a big mistake tonight.”**

Zuko pauses. Looking at the screen for much longer than he had after any other message or call, considering the meaning of the text. He picks up his phone and starts to quickly press and swipe at the glass. Sokka worries that they might have pushed him too far and now he regrets not going to that fancy restaurant with his family and is currently rapidly trying to make up for the mistake, but 2 seconds later he puts the phone down with the screen flipped against the table.

“You’re going to have to tell me what to do.” Zuko looks up at the group, lips pressed tightly together in a proud smile.

Cheers and joyful shouts erupt from the group as they start discussing different flirting techniques. Aang’s ideas mostly involved gift giving and quality time- which is sweet and all but not great when you’re on a time crunch, and Toph’s were all far too aggressive and intense to even be considered flirting in Sokka’s book. So it was down to Sokka, Suki and Katara to come up with something more appropriate. Sokka decided very quickly in this process he was going to stomp down the feeling that this was wrong, he reasons that it’s because Zuko is literally just out of the closet and still struggling to find his bearings but that doesn’t feel like the whole truth. But he still chooses to happily help Zuko figure out how to be gay as a big ‘fuck you’ to his Father.

There’s a moment while they’re still bouncing ideas around and they notice Nav coming out of back of house with a teapot, only for him to go to a table on the other side of the café and trapes back into the kitchen.

Despite Nav not actually coming to their table, it’s enough to scare them into scrambling out their ideas. Sokka throws out his last go-big-or-go-home plan, which immediately gets shut down.

“NO, he cannot bend a fire love heart for Nav.” Suki whisper shouts. “We’re in the middle of a building and that’s the definition of a fire hazard.”

“That’s your only problem with it?” Katara asks, bewildered.

“Zuko, what do you think?” Sokka tries.

“I’m not going to be bending anything.” Zuko’s interrupted by a string of bickering. “Isn’t there anything simpler I could try?”

They settle on a wink. A boring, old, basic wink. Sokka however quickly changes his tune on the wink when Zuko starts to rehearse on him. It was awkward and dorky and he squeezed his eye shut too tight, it likely wouldn’t be catching many men but Sokka found it charming.

They catch sight of Nav coming out of the kitchen again, holding the tray with the drinks much higher than it needs to be as he sways him slender hips. Sokka watches breath shake out of Zuko as he preps for the incoming man.

“You got this, buddy.” Sokka squeezes Zuko’s bicep for encouragement.

Nav reaches the table, bending over to place the sleek black tray on top. He doesn’t make any eye-contact with Zuko, focusing on the handing out the drinks across the table and it’s easy to see that Zuko is becoming disheartened as time goes on, but just as he hands Sokka his tall, orange slush, Nav turns almost completely, flickering his eyes up, and purses his lips ever so slightly. Sokka rolls his eyes as Nav leans against the table just about Zuko’s lap.

“Jasmine Tea?” Nav’s voice is smooth, contrasting against the crack in Zuko’s raspy one.

“Yes.”

Nav gives a single surly laugh at Zuko’s nervousness and swings the teapot round to sit in front of him. Sokka realises that they probably should have given Zuko a little more coaching, when he barely waits for the two to have fully made eye-contact before doing his version. Zuko blinks down hard twice with his left eye and holds it closed for a fraction too long- did he somehow get worse at this?

Nav blinks. He tilts his head at Zuko, and his lips turn upward slightly, amused. He gets off the table and grabs the tray with a much lighter energy about him. “Enjoy the tea, sweetie.” He pats Zuko twice on the shoulder before heading back to the kitchen, minis the swaying.

Sokka is the first to break, muffling his laugh into his hand, but everyone else soon follows, getting louder each time they try to stop. Zuko clearly getting frustrated at the group for laughing at his expense.

“I did what you told me to do!” Zuko fumed.

“You did and it was perfect.” Sokka swings his arm around Zuko, removing any space between them, only to get pushed off with a fierce but playful shove. Sokka pretends he doesn’t miss the affectionate contact once it’s gone.

They stay for another hour, drinking their drinks, telling their own flirting horror stories, which dissolved into them just making fun of Sokka and his dating mishaps throughout the years- regardless of how much Sokka protested. Nav comes back to get their payment, and Zuko avoids looking at any of them, biting back his anger at Sokka’s playful jabs to his side. They agree to split the bill 6 ways, similar to their usual 5 and Zuko quietly insists on paying for Sokka’s meal as well.

“No, no. You really don’t have to.” Sokka waves off the collection of gold coins Zuko had presented him with.

“Please. It’s the least I can do.” Zuko persists.

Sokka slides his card towards Nav’s impatiently crossed arms. “No way, if anything I should have paid for your meal-”

“Sokka!” Zuko pulls back the other man’s hand. “Just let me pay.”

“NO, ZUKO-”

“Can one of you just pay?!” Nav’s lost all prior attempts at civility. “I really don’t care who.”

He holds out a card machine and small ceramic dish for the retrospective methods of payment. Both of them reach for it but Sokka’s quicker, tapping his card against the machine.

Zuko all but stomps his feet as Nav abruptly turns to walk away.

“Nav, wait!” Sokka shouts.

He does but he’s clearly not happy about it- features drawn into a scowl.

“This is yours.” Sokka grins, scooping up half of the gold coins from Zuko’s palm and handing them to Nav. He looks down at the change then gives a final wink to Zuko before disappearing. Zuko tries to be angry as the others buckle at his expense but the red rushing to his cheeks makes it difficult to take him seriously.

It’s Suki’s turn to take Aang and Toph home, but they go back and forth on Zuko- him saying that he can make his own way home and them being actively against this idea, but eventually they let it go when he says he needs time to think before seeing his Uncle.

It’s darker outside when they exit, but there’s still a soft pink and orange glow resting just below the buildings. They wave goodbye as Suki ushers Aang and Toph round the corner to her car and Sokka tosses Katara his keys.

“Go wait for me by the car.” He says.

Katara gives a wave the new friend and he waits for her to dissolve into the background before looking back at Zuko.

“I blocked her number.” Zuko breaths. “I’m done pretending to be something I’m not to try and gain back my Father’s love. I’m not even sure I ever had it.”

“I’m proud of you, Zuko. I know that wasn’t any easy decision but for what it’s worth, I think you made the right choice.”

“Yeah.” Zuko nods, perusing his thoughts. “I’m gay!” He laughs freely.

“So, how was your first night out as a gay man?” Sokka lands an animated punch on Zuko’s shoulder.

Zuko’s tongue sticks out a little as he smiles. “Good. The first of many, I think.” He looks down at his feet. “We could maybe do this again some time?”

Sokka’s heart dances against his ribcage. “I’d like that. You’re a cool guy, Zuko. Give me your number so you don’t have book an uber next time you want to hang out.” Sokka pulls out his phone and hands it over for Zuko to type it in. “I’ll text you when I’m home so you have my number too.”

Zuko nods awkwardly. But doesn’t move to leave.

“I’m… I’m really glad that it was your car that I got into tonight. And that you played that song.”

“Me too.”

Zuko pulls Sokka into a tight hug, their chests pressing against one another as Zuko encases his arms around Sokka’s middle, radiating warmth, and Sokka lets his arms loosely hang atop Zuko’s shoulders. They stay there for a moment, both aware that the hug has gone on too long but neither make a move to leave, and bubbles start to rise in his stomach. Sokka quietly probes the floaty feelings twisted up amongst his insides as he ignores the sound of Zuko’s remaining coins being dropped into his baggy hoodie pockets.

They slip out of their hug but stay close, neither wanting to leave the steady comfort the other brings.

“Are you sure I can’t give you a lift home?”

“Yes. I need to be alone for a while.” Zuko averts his gaze briefly before meeting Sokka’s. “Thank you. For everything.”

Sokka watches the streetlight above them switch on, cascading a gentle hue over their conversation. “Any time, buddy.” Sokka winks.

Zuko’s lips move upward, showcasing his teeth, and the light from above catching on his features. Sokka notices that Zuko’s eyes crinkle more on his left, around his scar, as his cheeks bunch up into a smile. It’s not the biggest smile Sokka’s seen him do all night but it’s just theirs and that makes it Sokka’s favourite. They hover in the moment a bit longer before the pair go their separate ways.

Sokka ignores his sister’s questions as he adjusts into the driver’s seat, popping his phone back in the holder, and scrolling to find a playlist. Just as he’s getting ready to start the car he gets a faceless job notification, a laugh tucks into his throat and clicks off of it.

“Sokka! You have to tell me something!” Katara whines.

“Nope.” He grins, drowning out her complaints by cranking up the sweet sounds of his ‘falling for a stranger’ playlist. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! There's some stuff I'm not happy with and I worry that they sometimes feel out of character, but this turned out better than I expected! (In spite of this, I will probably re-edit some of this in a couple days hahah, if I make any major changes I'll post it again on my tumblr)
> 
> -there's 1 line taken directly from the show and the speech Sokka gives Zuko in his car about other people hating him was based off of  
> [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOFDbnmiVMs)
> 
> my  
> [tumblr](https://bashful-bi-buddies.tumblr.com/post/635817047255826432/zukos-coming-out-spotify-playlist-childspider) (bashful-bi-buddies)


End file.
